Opinion: Our unsustainable culture of medical specialization

Specialists rarely know how treatment they administer interacts with other concurrent treatments. This fragmentation results in frequent adverse reactions to drug combinations, redundant or ineffective care, and overall poor health outcomes. Not only do multimorbid patients receive suboptimal care, but the unnecessary hospitalizations, redundant tests, and disjointed care they receive put disproportionate pressure on our health system. A 2010 report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation suggests that the 75 million Americans with multiple chronic ailments, a quarter of our population, account for 65 percent of all health expenditures.